a genus of birds of the family Fringillidae. The birds are about the size of sparrows; their coloration is olive green with yellow on the wings.
There are two species. The greenfinch (Chloris chloris) is distributed in the deciduous forests of Europe, Southwest Asia, and northwestern Africa. In the southern regions it is sedentary; the northern individuals migrate south in winter. The greenfinch nests in trees once or twice per summer; each clutch contains four to six eggs. It feeds on seeds and berries, more rarely on insects. The Chinese, or Oriental, greenfinch (Chloris sinica) is found in East Asia (Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, Primor’e, Japan, and China).